Marine Reserve ANGLICO teams train at Fort Sill

FORT SILL, Okla. (May 4, 2017) -- Specialized teams of Marines trained to call in air strikes as well as artillery received critical qualification training at Fort Sill last week.

About two dozen Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO) Marine Forces Reservists with ANGLICO 3, 4, and 6 in Florida and California; staff, and active-duty instructors conducted combined-arms live-fire exercises and simulated missions as a supplement to their annual two-week training requirement.

Maj. Michael Kozeliski, range safety officer for the exercise, said, "The Marine Corps has revamped its codes for qualifications." That means more training is required in order for them to maintain their certification. "If they lapse they have to go back through the entire schooling again," he said.

"It's important that we have qualified JTACs (joint terminal attack controllers) and JFOs (joint fires observers) that can operate in a joint environment and be able to safely and effectively control air in combat," said Kozeliski, who is with the 14th Marine Regiment at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth, Texas.

Perched behind a concrete buttress on Andrews Hill, April 27, the ANGLICO teams used a laser to "paint" a shipping container target about a mile distant. F/A-18 Hornets piloted by VMFA-112 Marine Reservists ("Cowboys") out of the Joint Air Reserve Base provided close air support.

The Marines on the ground have a small device that shows the target area on a screen which is also duplicated in the aircraft.

Capt. Kyle Oser, with 4th ANGLICO in West Palm Beach, Fla., was officer-in-charge. "We put the laser onto the target, and the bomb has a seeker head in front of it which will direct it to that laser energy."

While one of the F/A-18s went to a refueling tanker, the other conducted the air strikes with a practice round, which made smoke but not a significant explosion.

The Marines also called in 155mm artillery rounds from the Paladin howitzers manned by Army cannoneers from 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery, with fire direction from Fort Sill's Marine Artillery Detachment.

While one team trained on the Hill, another was at the Jared Monti Hall Mission Simulation Center.

"The simulator offers an environment that is tough to replicate out on the field," said Oser. "You can do a lot more in the simulator as far as different environments, different assets."

As night fell, Marines donned night vision devices to continue the exercise. They also employed an infrared pointer, visible with night vision, that aided the targeting.

Michelle Mullen, Marine Forces Reserve Tactical Air Control Party Program Manager based in New Orleans, keeps JTACs and JFOs current on their qualifications.

Her job entails "coordinating with bases that have the support that we need -- simulators, air space, zones where we can drop ordnance, all of those things combined is what we need to continue the readiness of the program."

She said the assets that Fort Sill offered were perfect for their needs.

"We need a combination of fixed air wing, rotary air wing. We need artillery, we need simulation, and it's very hard to get all those things together."

She had high praise for the post. "The simulator system is amazing, the staff here has been incredible, we've gotten a lot of help from the Marine Det(achment) here, the Army, everybody's been extremely supportive of us building on this program."

Mullen said they are aiming for a semi-annual training event, rotated to different installations because the Marines come from all over the country.

The 3rd ANGLICO is based in Seal Beach, Calif., the 4th is from West Palm Beach, Fla., and the 6th is from Concord, Calif.